Western Governors to Speed Development of Alternative Fuels

Western governors agreed on February 23 to take action to speed the
development of alternative fuels in the West. A resolution adopted by
the Western Governors' Association (WGA) commits to the development of
a regional framework for a performance-based greenhouse gas standard
for transportation fuels, such as a low-carbon fuel standard. The
governors will also work together to promote an analytic methodology
for evaluating the entire lifecycle of fuel production and use in
terms of greenhouse gas emissions as well as other impacts upon the
land, water, and air. The initiative was spearheaded by the governors of California, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington.

Most other items in the resolution are optional, such as asking each
governor to consider procuring alternative fuel vehicles for state
fleets, ensuring those vehicles use alternative fuels, and creating
partnerships between public and private fleets for procuring
alternative fuel vehicles and alternative fuels. Governors are also
asked to work regionally on issues such as alternative fuel workforce
training, biomass feedstocks, alternative fuel infrastructure, and
policies that promote the sustainable use of natural resources in the
transition to an economy based on alternative fuels. The WGA
represents the governors of 19 western states and three groups of
Pacific islands: American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana
Islands. See the WGA press release and resolution (PDF 60 KB).
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The western governors' focus on greenhouse gas emissions from fuel
production calls to mind two recent studies, published online by
Science Magazine, that generally conclude that clearing land to
produce biofuels generates more greenhouse gas emissions than is saved
by the biofuel production. Researchers from the DOE Biomass Program
and DOE's Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) took issue with the
results of the first study, which focused on the United States, noting
that the researchers used an ANL computer model incorrectly,
overestimated ethanol production, and made conservative assumptions
about corn yields. In a letter to Science Magazine, the researchers
conclude that it is not clear what land use changes will result from
increased U.S. biofuel use, and that a more scientific study of land
use impacts needs to be carried out. The Renewable Fuels Association
(RFA) also responded, noting that the studies say nothing about the
benefits of today's biofuels, and instead use a number of assumptions
to examine a "worst case scenario" for the future. See the abstracts
about the use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increasing greenhouse gases and land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt on the Science Magazine Web site, the ANL response, and the RFA press release (PDF 93 KB).